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Clarke Willmott LLP
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Legal expertise spanning borders and jurisdictions

Our expert team of solicitors frequently advises multi-national organisations and businesses, entrepreneurs and HNW individuals on various cross-border matters.

We advise on a broad spectrum of commercial and personal matters, such as investing into UK businesses or assets, setting up companies in the UK and structuring wealth. Often, this involves co-ordinating legal advice across multiple jurisdictions; a process we make as seamless as possible for our clients.

Our international business expertise

Our corporate and commercial solicitors provide cross-border legal advice to companies and individuals doing business internationally.

We regularly advise overseas companies on setting up in the UK, acquiring UK companies or business assets and their general UK legal requirements, including:

  • Cross-border M&A transactions
  • Company and asset sales
  • Group restructurings and reorganisations
  • Joint ventures
  • Demergers
  • Private Equity and Venture Capital transactions
  • Setting up a subsidiary or branch office in the UK
  • Corporate governance
  • Intellectual property protection, including advice on UK and EU intellectual property law such as trade mark and registered design filings
  • Litigation and cross-border dispute resolution, including mediation
  • Advising overseas investors on investment into and disposals of UK real estate
  • Employment, including overseas recruitment, global mobility and compliance with employment law
  • Specialist expertise in advising UK companies seeking to invest into various projects in Ukraine
  • Specialist expertise in advising Chinese businesses and investors on their UK interests
  • UK corporate tax for overseas businesses
  • Advising the owners of international businesses on their estate and succession planning

Helping clients do business in the UK

We advise entrepreneurs and corporations who are seeking to establish or expand a business in the UK, or to invest in an existing business.

Our international corporate and commercial lawyers can offer practical guidance on structuring a UK entity or subsidiary, on carrying out acquisitions or disposals of businesses and commercial property, on commercial contracts and intellectual property law and much more besides.

They can also liaise with colleagues across the firm, tapping into further expertise on matters such as employment law, tax planning, banking and finance and wealth structuring, whenever necessary.

Co-ordinating legal advice across borders

When our clients require local advice in other jurisdictions, we can tap into our network of trusted colleagues around the world to ensure that our clients receive appropriate advice tailored to their specific needs, at a competitive price.

The strong relationships we have established over time makes this process seamless, with clients retaining a single point of contact here at Clarke Willmott.

We are also happy to work with our clients’ own overseas advisers and solicitors if that’s their preferred option.

Our international private client expertise

We regularly advise a range of private clients on matters involving an international element. Specifically:

  • UK residents and expats with substantial wealth including assets in the UK and/or overseas
  • Foreign nationals buying or investing in a UK property or business
  • Foreign nationals seeking advice on their domicile and tax residence status
  • Overseas law firms and professional advisers representing clients with assets in the UK
  • Offshore trust companies and trustees
  • Creating excluded property trusts either in lifetime or by deed of variation
  • US nationals buying or investing in UK property, including probate considerations. We also advise on divorce and separation, where one party is a UK national
  • International sports professionals and their families on UK property, divorce and probate
  • UK and overseas clients on international Court of Protection matters including dealing with legal and financial institution in various jurisdictions

Frequently asked questions

Forced heirship is a rule in many countries, particularly civil law jurisdictions, that reserves a fixed share of an estate for certain relatives, usually children or a spouse, regardless of what the will says. It can affect a UK estate where there is a cross-border element, such as where a UK-based individual owns property in a country that applies these rules. Often, there is value in taking advice in all jurisdictions involved, so it is sensible to deal with this early in the administration of an estate.

Double taxation can arise where the same assets are taxed both in the UK and in another country, which sometimes happens with cross-border estates. Relief may be available, either under a tax treaty between the UK and the other country or through other relief that can reduce or offset the tax paid twice. Whether it applies, and how, depends on the assets, the countries involved and the deceased’s circumstances.

Domicile is a legal concept describing the country a person is treated as having their permanent home, and it is not the same as where they live or their nationality. It matters because it can determine which jurisdiction’s laws apply if a person dies without a Will.

In addition, if a person died before 6 April 2025, it affects what parts of their estate are subject to UK Inheritance Tax, particularly whether that tax applies only to UK assets or to worldwide assets.

Establishing domicile can be complex, so advice is often helpful where there is an international element.

A Colonial Grant, or re-sealing, may be available where a Grant of Probate has already been issued in a country with an historic connection to the UK, and can speed up the Probate application process significantly. These countries include Australia, Canada (most provinces), South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia, Jamaica and Nigeria, among others.

We regularly assist clients from these countries to obtain the resealed Grant necessary to deal with estate assets in the UK.

Professional memberships and accreditations

  • Clarke Willmott is a top 100 UK law firm
  • We are a Leading Legal 500 and a Top Ranked Chambers UK firm
  • We are a member of leading international professional services network IR Global where Oksana Howard is an exclusive Private Equity & Venture Capital member for England
  • We have two Court of Protection panel deputies out of only 75 nationwide
  • We are accredited by the Wills and Inheritance Quality Scheme (WIQS)
  • We hold the Law Society’s Lexcel accreditation for compliance and client care standards
  • Our Private Client team includes Members of STEP, accountants and chartered tax advisers and we also hold specialist international qualifications focussed on tax for international clients and cross border estate planning

Get in touch with our International team today

For specialist help with any international or cross border matter please call us on 0800 652 8025 or get in touch online.

Clarke Willmott’s multidisciplinary team of solicitors works with clients across the country and the globe from our offices in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Southampton and Taunton.

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With seven offices throughout England and Wales, Clarke Willmott is a national law firm with a local presence. Click to learn more about our wider team of legal professionals and how they can support you.

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